Golden scalycap

The cap of Pholiota aurivella is 5 to 15 cm in diameter, bright golden yellow to rusty brown and with a slimy or greasy surface covered in darker-brown scales that sometimes wash off in wet weather. The crowded adnate gills are cream when young, turning reddish-brown as the spores develop. The stem is 6 to 12 mm in diameter and 3 to 9 cm tall, lemon-yellow becoming browner with age. It is smooth above a pale cottony ring, persistent fragments of the partial veil, and having darker brown scales below the ring. The stem is solid with fibrous yellowish flesh.